Soul and Maka reported back to the DWMA right after their mission. They had successfully taken incriminating photographs of a local businessman in connection with a gang that sold drugs. All that they needed to do was give Lord Death the camera and give a detailed report.

They entered the large building and found their way to the Lord Death's office.

His office still gave Soul the creeps, but Maka seemed at home standing on the dais facing their boss. Her hands were clasped behind her back as she recited the afternoons events. Soul slouched beside her with his hands in his pockets.

"Hmmm, sounds like that was quite the decision Maka." Death mused when the girl had stopped speaking. "It looks like your partnership with Soul is having a positive effect. You can leave the camera here with me. Thank you for your good work today you two."

The pair turned to leave when Death's musical voice called out once more.

"Oh, remember Soul, your initiation is this evening."

Like I could forget. Thought Soul. He had be anticipating this evening for a week already.

"Thanks Lord Death. I won't forget." was what he chose to reply with instead.

The pair walked down the hall toward the cafeteria. The large room was quiet. A few table still had people, but the main rush was long ago. It was well past 7 and the kitchen was only serving food for the next 20 minutes. Maka and Soul grabbed trays and food and went to sit. They spotted Black*Star and Tsubaki amongst the stragglers and joined them. Black*Star was exuberantly going on about how he would one day surpass Lord Death with Tsubaki's help. Tsubaki was slowly mopping up the last of her soup with a piece of bread. She looked a little preoccupied and was only vaguely nodding at Black*Star as he was ranting.

"Are you even listening to me Tsubaki?" Black*Star hollered as they approached. "This is your God speaking. How are there bigger issues than how you are going to help me surpass God!?"

Tsubaki cocked her head to the side and smiled at her partner. "Sorry, I am a little nervous about tonight and the initiation. But we will definitely make you a big hero one day."

"Why be nervous?" the obnoxious teen stated matter-of-fact "With a big star like me there to support you, nothing can go wrong. Besides, I'll be giving you and Soul the spotlight, so you better feel lucky!"

Maka sat down with pointed look at Black*Star. "Well at least he got one thing right; we will definitely be there to support you Tsubaki." Maka smiled across the table at her quiet friend.

The smell of soup wafted up to Makas nose, making her realize how hungry she was. After a full day of following the two men, her stomach was growling as she took the first bite. They ate in relative silence; Soul slurping noisily at each spoonful and Maka a little more carefully.

Soon the time to head to the initiation was upon the four teens. They headed down the hall toward the chapel. Kid, Liz and Patty were waiting for them.

"You guys ready?" Liz asked.

"What's not to be ready for?" replied Soul. Although cool words there was none of the usual confidence behind them and his usually tan skin looked pale.

Tsubaki just stood there silently, looking as if this was her execution.

"Lighten up! Its really not that bad." Patty sung.

Soul took a deep breath and opened the huge doors in front of them. He held his head high as he marched in, Maka by his side. Black*Star took Tsubaki by the hand and walked in with her. Kid, Liz and Patty took the rear.

The huge room was styled like a gothic cathedral hall. Pillars rose to the curved ceiling on either side of the aisle. Stone rafters crisscrossed high above the group. At the far end of the room on a raised platform in front of rows of benches was Lord Death. He stood beside a podium talking with Spirit Albarn and Franken Stein. Sid and Nygus sat in the front row talking with each other.

Upon the teens entrance, the three adults quieted and stood in a row at the front of the platform. Lord Death motioned for Soul and Tsubaki to stand in front of him. Maka and the others took a seat on the first bench. The late evening sun streamed through the stained-glass window behind the group, bathing them in warm light of every colour. It was beautiful. Maka wished she still had the camera; she would just have to burn the image into her memory instead.

The ceremony was actually quite simple and straight forward. The pair were directed to kneel in front of their new leader and boss. They recited the oath of the DWMA, Lord Death touched their shoulders and heads with an ornate sword and asked them to rise. When they stood, he grabbed a rubber stamp and ink pad from the podium.

"Have you decided where you want you tattoos placed?" his whimsical voice rang through the large room.

Soul nodded patting over his heart.

"Good good. Lift your shirt then." Lord Death instructed as he inked the stamp. He placed it firmly where soul had directed; leaving a perfect imprint of a skull. "Follow Nygus to the infirmary and she will tattoo you for real. "

Tsubaki stepped forward " I'd like mine on my right shoulder blade sir." She was wearing her usual sleeveless dress, so moved the cloth away for the rubber stamp.

Well, you are now official members of the DWMA. Welcome to the family children. Do either of you wish to leave your old names behind and make new ones?"

Tsubaki shook her head. She liked her name.

"I would. I'd like to change my last name to 'Eater'." said Soul.

"Very well. I wash absolve you of the Evans name and name you Soul Eater of the DWMA."

"Thank you sir."

And that was it; the ceremony over. The teens followed Nygus down the corridors toward the infirmary. Kid and the Thomson's had left after the ceremony but had promised to meet them later at the Albarn residence.

The tattoos were painful but didn't take long. Soon all seven teens were sitting in Maka's living room with chips, rice balls, and drinks. Liz had convinced them all to steal some alcohol from Spirits liquor cabinet. Maka was quite concerned until she had finished her first drink; after that she didn't seem to care.

"Well, that really wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been." Tsubaki sighed in relief.

"Yeah. That was super casual. I got a new name out of the deal and everything." Soul agreed.

"Your name is SO COOL!" exclaimed Black*Star. "I mean, it's not as cool as my own, but I'll definitely let you be my right hand man with a name like Soul Eater."

They high-fived while Maka rolled her eyes. Curious, Maka turned to the sisters.

"Where did you two get your tattoos placed? I don't think I know."

Liz rolled up her left sleeve and Patty her right, revealing their wrists. "We got them here to symbolize each other. Growing up, we would often holds hands." Liz grabbed Patty's right hand to demonstrate, their tattoos lined up perfectly. Liz continued speaking "We chose there to remind us we always have each other and now we have a larger family as well."

"Oh." Maka said a little surprised. " Did you have a difficult childhood?"

"Yeah. You could say that." Liz ended the line of questioning.

Feeling awkward, Maka didn't know what to say. Thankfully Tsubaki saved her.

"Say, Maka, don't you live here with your dad?"

"Yeah...?" Maka answered wondering why her friend was asking.

"Well.. aren't you worried that he'll come back and catch us?"

"Hah!" Black*stars laugh was loud but without humour.

"Yeah, that not likely." Maka stated matter-of-factly. "Being a Friday night he probably wont be back until 1 at the earliest. He's probably schmoozing with 'Blair' at the gentleman's club and drinking waaay too much. Even if he did come home early, he'd probably be too blitzed to realize there's shenanigans about. Anyway, there's no need to worry." she finished with a smile to try and cover the disappointment at her abysmal father.

"I see..." Tsubaki trailed off, her turn to feel awkward.

"Yeah, I've known Spirit my whole life and he isn't what you would call a 'good father'. I mean, Sid isn't great, but at least he's logical and consistent." Black*Star added.

Kid slowly nodded in agreement and Maka downed the last of her drink. She got up to fill her cup again. As she made her way to the kitchen she heard Tsubaki ask.

"Hey, why don't we all play a game?"

"What were you thinking?" Kid enquired.

"Well, I was thinking that we don't really know that much about each other, so we could play a little game to find out more about each other. You know, if you guys wanted. It's just that when some things come up it really awkward, so if we knew about them, we could avoid feeling awkward..." she was still a bit shy when they were all together.

"Intriguing. How would we play?"asked Kid.

"Yeah, sounds like it could be fun. What are the rules?" Liz asked.

"Well, I was thinking we could all write down two truths about ourselves, mix them all up in a hat or something and try to guess who it belongs to."

"That sounds like fun." Maka exclaimed. "I'll grab some paper for us."

She ran into the other room and returned with a few pages of lined paper, obviously torn from a note book, and several pens. She rifled through a drawer until she found a pair of scissors and cut the pages into smaller slips. She circled the room handing out a couple slips and a pen to everyone before sitting back down in her arm chair.

She pondered for a few moments staring intently at the paper, tapping the pen against her lips. She didn't want to put anything too personal or deep, but also didn't want anyone guessing too easily. She looked up around the room and noticed everyone was in a similar situation.

"We don't want our own to be guessed, right?" she clarified.

"That's right."

She looked back down at her paper. This is actually more difficult than I thought it would be. I don't want to be too obvious so that eliminates most of the things about me. Ugg, I'm so predictable. Oh! My favourite instrument is the piano. No one will guess that. She wrote it down on one slip of paper and folded it in half. Oh, I know what else. The most heart-breaking gift I've ever received is a pair of jade earrings. That should do it. She folded the second note and placed in the box in the center of the coffee table. Everyone else finished up soon after.

"Who should pick and read them?" asked Tsubaki.

"I think you should. You did come up with the game and you have such a nice voice." smiled Liz.

"Okay. Here goes then." the dark haired teen swirled her hand around the box a little before pulling one out. "I inherited a large weapon collection from my family."

"Kid." Soul said instantly.

"Kid" Black*star agreed.

The others all nodded "Kid" was unanimous.

"Wrong." stated Kid. "I actually have very little in the way of weapons from my father. And certainly not what one could call a collection."

"That's actually me." Tsubaki piped up.

"What?! No way Baki! You never mentioned this to me?" cried an astounded Black*Star.

"It's not something I like to brag about. It's a family heirloom and should have gone to my older brother, but it was willed to me by our grandfather. It causes a lot of tension, so I don't like to talk about it."

"I see. But that is still so cool! Do you know how to use any of them?"

"Next one," Tsubaki clearly ignoring the loud teens question. "I ran away from home."

Everyone called "Soul" at the same time.

"Uggg, how come so quick guys?" Soul complained.

"You're like, 14, showed up out of the blue on a motorcycle one day, with only a couple of small bags and you don't think everyone knows immediately?" asked Liz sarcastically.

"Well, I guess when you put it that way..." grumbled Soul.

Tsubaki giggled "Okay, next. My favourite instrument is the piano. Hmmmm"

Soul glanced at Maka giving her a strange look. Everyone was eyeing up everyone else. It certainly caused confusion among the group. Maka, Tsubaki and Kid were the top candidates. They decided to call it a win for the writer though.

"It's me." admitted Maka to everyone's laugh or groan if they thought it was her.

The game went on for quite a while. More paper was cut up as more rounds were played. It was fun getting to know the companions they were with day after day. Some were more serious and some required a little bit of history to them. They shared the reading duty, but Tsubaki read most of them – it sounded less judge-y coming from her.

"I put a man in the hospital when I was 10."

"Oh shit. I don't want to cross you, whoever you are." exclaimed Maka. She had no idea, but knew it wasn't Black*star or Kid. She grew up with them. Tsubaki didn't seem the type and Patty was too innocent. That left Soul and Liz, but she suspected the latter. Her suspicions turned out to be correct.

"Really Liz? You have to explain now." instructed Kid. We are partners after all."

"Well, I found out what our foster-dad was really doing when he was playing "tea party" alone with Patty. I beat the ever loving shit out of him. Cops still think he fell down the stairs and bashed his head on the rail. Creep got what was coming to him though."

That sent a hush through the group. None of them were expecting something like that. They all looked toward the sweet innocent girl with sadness in their eyes. If Liz was 10, Patty must have only been 7. Nobody should have to suffer through that let alone a child.

Patty looked at every one with wide, expectant eyes. "Next one!"

"Okay, but I think this will be the last one. It is getting late." Yawned Maka. She looked at the clock. It was already 12:30. Her father would probably be back soon.

"Okay the last one. I don't know how to ride a bike."

Another one where nobody could even guess. After a minute Patty confessed.

"It's me. We were bounced around foster homes and nobody took the time to teach me. Then we couldn't afford one when we were on our own, so I don't know how." she said with a smile.

Maka didn't know how such a lovely girl could smile at the statement.

"Well, if you'd like to learn, I can teach you." offered Soul. " I obviously know how to ride."

Patty giggled at that. "I would love to, thanks Soul!"

"No problem squirt." he replied as he mussed her hair a little.

"Okay gang. It's been a wonderful evening, but I think it's time for sleep now. My dad will be back soon. Probably." Maka told everyone. "Liz and Patty can share my bed. Tsubaki and I will share an air mattress in my room. I'll grab some blankets for you boys and you can have the sofa and chairs out here."

As she grabbed all the blankets for everyone, Black*star took the cushions from the back of the sofa and laid them out on he ground. He had slept over a few times growing up and knew the comfiest spot. Kid laid out on the couch while Soul curled in Maka's favourite arm chair. She tossed blankets at them before heading to bed herself.